Credit: CBS screenshot
Young & Restless offered up peak Parisian peril this week… but as with so many other storylines, it flipped and then kinda flopped. Here’s a look at what happened and what’s coming up:
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Victor Makes Another Power Move — and Lily Gets Billy Right Where She Wants Him
Calling Victor’s Bluff
While Victor shared a nice moment with Nick over the improvement in his brotherly relationship with Adam, his exchange with Cole was not so warm and fuzzy. After firing Michael over his and Cole’s “betrayal”, he then warned Cole to stay away from his family and his daughter. Vintage Victor, but such an eye-roll moment. All Cole has to do is threaten to tell Victoria, Claire, and Nikki that Victor had Jordan locked up in a cage in the basem*nt whilst lying to them that she was dead. It’s called leverage. That said, I don’t expect Cole to do that as he knows it would hurt them. But it doesn’t look as though he’s going to bow to Victor’s orders either. As per the preview, Cole asks Victoria out for dinner next week, flying in the face of his former father-in-law’s warning.
In a Victor-related teaser, Young & Restless is reigniting the feud between Victor and Jack. They already ruined a golden opportunity by not having the Mustache sic Jordan on his rival, so not sure how he’ll target him now. With all of Diane’s concern about Jack falling off the wagon again, I’d expect the story to go there.
Love Triangle I
Young & Restless is clearly eyeing a triangle involving Sally, Adam, and Chelsea. “Chadam” has been spending a lot of time together, and only they can truly understand how it feels to be dealing with the Connor situation, and as it becomes more emotional and concerning, they’ll only grow closer. We’ve seen at least three hugs between them now, and on a soap opera that ain’t for nothin’… especially given they had Sally walk in on the last one. They’re also creating instability between Chelsea and Billy, what with her criticizing his decision to confide in Lily, etc. The writing is on the wall. In related, I love Sally going to work with Summer, as unrealistic as it is.
Infighting Update
In other Chancellor-Winters news, Billy is back on his BS about adding Abbott to the company name. While I see and understand his urgency in wanting to pay tribute to his mother in some tangible way, the bickering over something so ‘meh’ is exhausting to sit through. They need to come up with a better premise for a storyline.
Finally, Mamie was back on the scene this week with an apology, but fans felt Devon took things too far in asking her to part with her investment. I didn’t see this episode, but they really let him have it on social media:
Devon is out of line! Mamie owes him nothing. Nothing! #YR
— Roslyn 🐾🥧🏖️ (@calirozzy) June 5, 2024
Devon WTF R U??? to demand someone give up their invest just to prove something you. Then get an attitude when they question you. Boy bye! Can somebody PLEASE set his ass straight? #YR
— Na_Joy_Fish (@justMsFisher) June 7, 2024
I hope Aunt Mamie cusses Devon out one good time to let him know he isn’t the head of their family; she is and should be treated with respect.#YR
— Town and Country Web Soap (@bredrew2) June 5, 2024
Love Triangle II
Chance needs to run, not walk, away from Summer. She’s not just jealous of Claire’s connection with Harrison, no, that green-eyed monster extends to Kyle. Speaking of, Young & Restless managed to slate an appearance for Mariah and Tessa as Pride Month kicked off, which mainly revolved around making it clear that Kyle has a thing for Claire. It would be nice if they had a story, but here we are.
Ashley Overseas
After not one, but two, standalone episodes, I was left mostly disappointed… with the storyline, not the acting or the emotion of it all. Not only was the entire premise involving Martin messing with Ashley’s head to get back at his brother convoluted, the current writing at Young & Restless once again failed to provide a soapy payoff when the storyline peaked. The result here should have been the audience discovering exactly what Martin did to Ashley, Tucker coming to her rescue, and Tucker fighting Martin to the death for the woman he loves. Instead, we’re still in the dark, Tucker was sent away after an anti-climactic appearance at the height of the ‘drama’, and we were subjected to scene after scene of a character we’ve known for a couple of weeks droning on about what the death of his evil twin brother means to him. Not good!
The silver lining? They might actually pair up Traci and Alan. Plus, there seems to be more to come in Ashley’s journey, but honestly, the idea of her remembering that someone abused her as a child is kind of depressing to contemplate. Let me know what you think of the story in the comments.
The State of the Soap Opera
* Young & Restless’ headwriter seems obsessed with telling business and mental health storylines exclusively, and the audience is tired. Overdoing themes mean they have less impact and viewers start hitting the fast-forward button. There’s also little to no lighter fare, youthful energy, or comic relief to provide balance.
* Characters on the front burner often get tunnel-vision, and therefore become one-dimensional, with the most recent example being Victoria, who can’t focus on anything but Claire (there’s no way this woman wouldn’t still have one eye on the goings-on at Newman). Victoria being relegated to standing in the tackhouse doing dishes and hand-wringing over Claire is frustrating, not to mention boring, to watch. A romance with the lacklustre Cole isn’t going to do much to remedy the situation.
* The writers’ track record when it comes to follow-through gets more dismal by the day. Jordan kidnapping Harrison and Claire, Victor holding Jordan captive, Ashley’s Paris peril… all came to weird and disappointing conclusions rather than providing a payoff.
The opinions expressed are my own. Please feel to share your thoughts on Young & Restless in the comments.
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